According to the ITV news this evening, during the final part of Her Majesty’s funeral tomorrow the Queen will ‘lay’ next to her husband. I’m pretty sure she won’t. Eggs? The table? And before anyone points out that we all understand what was meant (‘lie’ by the way) I’ll issue the usual reminder - this is pedants’ corner!
I have been reading several of the posts on here. I am actually quite shocked by some of them. Are none of you aware that language evolves over time and words take on a broader meaning. Maybe some would prefer that we spoke 'Ye Olde English' still. I happen to love the way English was written in the 1920s but I would never expect my grandchildren to write in this way. Wanders off contemplating life, the Universe and everything
An old prayer comes to mind: “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I die before I wake , I pray the Lord my soul to take. An example of old fashioned language using the verb “to lay”. The newsreaders etc are only following the traditional use of the word.
Ok, my pet hates. Lay/lie, yes. One criterion, several criteria. Bbc don't seem to know the difference. Am = ante meridiem = before midday Pm = post meridiem = after midday So 12 am and 12 pm could be the same time but on different days (pay attention at the back there). So you can't say either. Please use midday and midnight.
The verb "to lay" is transitive i.e. requires a direct object. In the sentence "Now I lay me down to sleep" the direct object is "me". The verb "to lie" is intransitive.
I love pedants' corner, and can never resist adding to it. My pet hate is the loss of the present participle, as in "She was sat", "He was stood". "Different from" is logical as one is moving away, so why "different to" which indicates moving towards. Don't get me started on "I'm good" - well I hope you are! I know language changes but why should grammar change? I had to write out "It's means it is" 100 times when I was at school, and have never forgotten it.
Finally I have found my grammaticality correct soul mates. Pedantic corner! My immediate pet peeve is the old ' to, two and too' usage. I agree lay for eggs, lie is correct
My pet hate is that virtually everybody now uses ‘amount of’ for everything when ‘number’ should be used. E.g. the ‘number’ of people BUT the ‘amount’ of rainfall. The ‘amount’ of time should be ‘length’ of time. I could go on…..Perhaps this is not taught in schools anymore.
Not convinced! It’s meant to be present conditional I think. In the same way one would say to One’s OH ‘ If I lie here long enough, will you bring me a cup of tea?’
One could say 'If I were to lie here long enough . . . .' (subjunctive tense). However in Yorkshire people are inclined to say 'He were a good lad' when 'was' is intended.
BBC please note: The Queen was NOT the Head of the Church of England - she was the Supreme Governor.
Has anybody noticed how often people say "you cannot underestimate ..... " (e.g. the importance of The Queen to the nation) - when of course it should be OVERESTIMATE. It happens all the time when presumably well educated presenters are speaking. Drives me mad.
Has anybody noticed how often people say "you cannot underestimate ..... " (e.g. the importance of The Queen to the nation) - when of course it should be OVERESTIMATE. It happens all the time when presumably well educated presenters are speaking. Drives me mad.
Another case of the opposite to what's intended (I think?): "I could case less" for "|I COULDN'T care less".